Chapter 5
Shay scowled when he saw an unfamiliar vehicle parked at the cabin next to his, but at that moment, he didn’t have time to worry about it, just to wonder if it would be someone to help on the ranch.
When he stepped out of his truck, he swore a blue streak as his leg buckled and he had to grip the door to stay upright.
He looked up when another vehicle pulled in, and Tony rushed over.
“You okay?” Tony asked. “I heard Lorissa and Cole talking.” He looked at his friend, smirked, then reached out and helped him away from the door. “Let’s get you inside.” He ended up wrapping an arm around him, and as they were trying to make it up the porch, the door to the other cabin opened.
“Hello,” a woman called out, and Shay closed his eyes in shame before he turned and looked at who had spoken. He froze at the sight of the most beautiful woman he had ever laid eyes on. She came down the steps and held her hand out. “I’m Faith Webber. I was just hired as the resident jockey.”
“What’s that?” Shay asked as he tried to step away from Tony, and swore when his leg almost buckled.
“Are you okay?”
“He’s not,” Tony said with a nod to her. “I’m Tony, I live across the street. This is Shay, he lives here, can you help me get him inside?”
Faith hurried down her steps and over to them, sneaking beneath Shay’s other arm, and helped him up the stairs while Tony opened the door. Once inside, she concentrated on getting him to a chair in the kitchen, and watched as Tony removed Shay’s shoes.
“Talk to me, Shay, what the fuck happened?” His eyes grew wide, and with a shake of his head he apologized to Faith. “Sorry for swearing, Miss.”
“Don’t worry about it, but what happened?”
“I was helping Lorissa and I wasn’t paying attention. One of the horses fucking kicked me in my thigh.” He reached down and rubbed the outside of his knee where it met the thigh.
“Knee or thigh?” Faith asked. She had dropped to her knees to try to help him, then shook her head.
“Like I said, I’m the new jockey, which means that I will be riding the horses around the track when the snow melts.
I only had my interview today, I’m here overnight, then I need to go home and take care of things.
I’ll be back in three weeks. Anyway, I’ve been around horses my entire life.
I know what it’s like to get kicked by a horse or two, along with being bitten. Did the horse have a shoe on?”
“Yes,” Shay said between clenched teeth.
“You can tell me to get out, but I’m going to need to see it, so I can assess it.” She sat back on her haunches to look up at him. “You’re going to have to drop your drawers.”
Shay grit his teeth, then looked at Tony. “Take me to my bedroom.”
Tony helped him, then Faith heard him tell Shay not to move until he returned. He came out and shook his head. “Thank you, I’ll be right back. Could you please make a pot of coffee?”
“Yes.” Faith quickly got it started, and realized that this kitchen was set up the same as in the cabin she had chosen.
Before it was even halfway brewed, Tony was back with a pair of crutches.
He grinned at her. “Trust me.” Then he disappeared down the hall.
When both men returned, Shay settled into the chair and stared at Tony.
“Christ, Jacobs, is this what you felt like after one of your operations?”
“Yep,” Tony said with a laugh and made them both a cup of coffee, but not before pouring one for Faith.
At the knock on the door, Shay called for them to come in, and Faith stood back as a man and a woman walked in. They stopped short when they spotted her.
“Who are you?” they asked at the same time.
“I’m Faith Webber. I’m the new resident jockey for New Double.”
“Great,” the man said as he stepped forward and held his hand out. “I’m Tom Stolls, I’m a veterinarian. I have my own practice in town, but I also work for Erin and all her ranches. This is my girlfriend, Lorissa Gibson.”
“Hi, I’m Lorissa, like Tom said. I’m also a veterinarian, but I’m also a registered farrier.
Shay was helping me with an unruly horse and he didn’t jump out of the way in time.
” She grinned at Shay’s snort. She dug into the bag she brought and handed him a bottle.
“This is liniment you should rub on the spot. Did the horse get your knee?”
“No, just above it and to the outside.” Shay pointed to his leg and everyone winced when they saw the black imprint of a horseshoe on his leg.
“Damn,” Tom said as he squatted down to look at it. “Can you bear any weight on it?” He stood and watched as Shay stood, then reached out and helped Tony put him back in his chair when it looked like he would face plant when he bore weight on it.
The door opened, with only one knock, and Cole walked in. “Talk to me, what happened? Ann said you got kicked?” He looked down at Shay’s leg, swore and whistled at the same time. “Can you put weight on it?”
“No.”
“Do you think it’s broken?”
“Not that I know of.”
Faith watched the people check the man named Shay out, and the entire time the man named Tony was texting. He looked up and cleared his throat. When everyone looked at him, he nodded. “Caleb said to bring Shay to him to run x-rays.”
“It’s not that bad.”
“Son,” Cole said. “I’m not about to lose you to an injury. Let’s go get an x-ray, and we can take it from there.” Cole looked up and saw Faith over by the counter, then nodded. “Did Naomi tell you about The Broken Wheel, or Broken Two?”
“Briefly, we mainly talking about New Double.”
“Well, Broken Two has two office buildings. You’ll learn the more you stay here, but one of the doctors there is a licensed physical therapist, as well as a chiropractor. The other person working with him is a gal that builds prosthetic limbs from scratch.”
“That’s my girlfriend,” Tony said with pride. “Staci has a government contract to build them for veterans. Broken Wheel has both male and female military veterans that work there, and she’s helping them.”
“Oh.” Faith felt her mind turning to mush as she was learning everything.
She hoped when she returned that she would be better equipped to understand it all.
Tuning back into Shay’s grumbling, she stepped forward so she was to his side.
When he looked over, she realized that with him sitting, he was eye level with her standing.
She knew that at five foot nothing, she was short, but he must be tall.
“I don’t know you,” she began, “But it sounds like these people care about you. Why not go get checked out? Do you want to get a doctor’s opinion and then take care of yourself, or would you like to be laid up for days or weeks with a bum knee, unable to do anything to help out around here?”
“Who are you again?”
“Faith Webber, Cole and Naomi interviewed me today, and I’m only here tonight, then I’m heading back home to pack up and move here.
I’m going to be the resident jockey.” At his expression, she grinned.
“That means that I’m the one that gets to ride on the backs of the horses and ride them around the track.
I’ll be training the ones that are ready to be put through their paces.
” She saw his expression and cocked her head to the side.
“What? No comment about me being a woman and doing this?”
“Nope, I’m familiar with women doing their jobs in my former job.”
“What was your former job?”
“Commander of a National Guard unit.”
“Oh.” When they continued to stare at one another, she made a quick decision. “I know you don’t know me from Eve, but I promise I’m not a psychopath or anything. If you go to this Broken Two place to get looked at and worked on, I will cook a meal for you. Do you have any food allergies?”
“No, and you don’t have to.”
“I know, but I want to. I had to cook for myself anyway, what’s one more person?”
Again, before anyone could say anything, the door flew open and in walked two women.
Faith recognized Naomi right away, but didn’t know the other woman, and she was the one that took charge of the entire situation.
She dropped to her knee before Shay, reached up to touch his leg, and when he jerked away from her, Faith saw she thumped his thigh with a stump.
“Let me see it,” the woman demanded, and Shay sighed, closed his eyes, and let her.
It took several moments, then the woman stood, placed her hands on her hips and glared at him.
“You will go over to Caleb’s to get an x-ray, you are to follow his instructions, you are not allowed to return to work until you are cleared. I know you’ve only been here for a couple of weeks, but do you have a physical doctor in town?”
“Who are you?” Faith blurted out, and it seemed like the entire cabin stilled as they looked between Erin and Faith.
“I’m Erin Riceman.” She stepped forward and held out her left hand. “Who are you?”
They shook, and Faith answered, “Faith Webber, Naomi and Cole hired me to be the resident jockey.”
“Oh, great, welcome aboard. If people haven’t told you yet, I’m in charge of everything.” At Faith’s expression, she nodded.
“Yes, Naomi owns New Double, Cole is the manager, however, I own the land it sits on. Ultimately, if Shay decides to sue someone, it would be me.”
“I won’t do that,” Shay said as he used Tom and Tony’s help to stand. Everyone saw him wince, but he got the crutches beneath his feet. “It was my own fault, I wasn’t paying attention. No, I do not have a regular doctor.”
“Caleb has a list of them at his office. Go work with him, and see what he says, you’re not to return to work until you’re cleared by him, not Caleb, the new guy you go see.”
“Understood,” Shay nodded and used the crutches to get to the door.
Everyone stood back as he slipped his feet into some slip-on shoes he had at the door, then turned to look at them.
“The faster I get over there to get checked out, the faster I can get healed.” He turned to Faith and gave her a nod.
“Thank you, I don’t know when I’ll be back, hopefully in a couple of hours. ”
“I’ll be here, don’t worry.”
“See you then,” he said with a nod as he looked at the others. “Who’s driving me to Caleb?”
“I will,” Cole said as he helped him down and into the truck.
Faith stood in the doorway and watched them all get in their own vehicles and caravan away from the cabin.
She shook her head at the efficiency of what had happened, and crossed her fingers that this was how New Double would work.
On a heavy sigh, she closed the door against the bitter wind, turned to the kitchen, and started investigating the contents of the refrigerator and cupboards.
Because she had been craving it, she decided to use the thawed hamburger she found and started mixing up a meatloaf.
In no time it was in the oven, and she peeled the potatoes as she waited for it to bake.